How Bruce Lee really died

Bruce Lee fans will always argue how and why Bruce Lee really died. Here is my 'SUMMARY'of what basically happened during his final months on this planet.

1. He was big time strung out
2. Cortisone
3. He was a very sensitive man
4. He didnt handle the perceived pressures of fame well
5. He may very well have had an eating disorder
6. His weight loss
7. His lack of body fat
8. He drank Saki while living in Hong Kong
9. He got drunk very easily
10. He was trying to live like Mr Hollywood
11. Raymond Chow was stealing from him
12. He had stopped training
13. He did eat Hash Brownies (although this in itself would not kill him)
14. It's fair to say that it wasn't going well between Bruce and Linda Lee
15. No one wanted to be caught with the most famous person in Hong Kong dead in their flat. Hong Kong Chinese are infamous for refusing to have involvement with anything that could cause them to lose face
16. Raymond Chow was helping promote a very unhealthy life for Bruce Lee (Betty Ting Pei). It is that way of living that directly caused Bruce Lee's death  see no. 1. Raymond Chow did not know that this would happen; his role was indirect. The same could be said of many people around Bruce Lee
17. All combined = Multifactorial cause of death

Most of these are from Davis Miller.

My own personal view: Bruce had clear visions of what he was capable of doing but in essence tried to take himself beyond the possibilities of what humans can actually do and that ultimately caused his body and mind to shut down.

Findings in the medical community a number of yrs ago suggest that Bruce Lee may have died from sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), which was only recognized in 1995. Bruce collapsed on May 10th 1973 (a couple months before he died on July 20th) with the same problem. He was close to death but was saved in time. He was given medication to treat an epileptic disorder. Interesting when you consider SUDEP was recognized 22 years later as a valid epileptic condition brought on by stress and lack of sleep. Out of all the theories, this makes the most sense to me. What may have been a mystery to the medical community in 1973 may be common knowledge 20 years or so later. I know there were people like Bob Wall and Robert Clouse that said Lee was under allot of stress and lacked sleep during the making of Enter the Dragon, Lee would call Clouse all hours of the night with ideas for the movie and was never really able to unwind. Bruce Lee died because of too much stress and lack of sleep that caused his brain to swell and caused edema. These incidents in Japan, where many business man worked too much and died over stressed and collapsed (Karôshi) is the same; The first case of karôshi was reported in 1969 with the death from a stroke of a 29-year-old male worker in the shipping department of Japan's largest newspaper company. It was not until the later part of the 1980s, during the Bubble Economy, however, when several high-ranking business executives who were still in their prime years suddenly died without any previous sign of illness, that the media began picking up on what appeared to be a new phenomenon. This new phenomenon was quickly labeled karôshi and was immediately seen as a new and serious menace for people in the work force. In 1987, as public concern increased, the Japanese Ministry of Labour began to publish statistics on karôshi.

Maybe he felt he didn't need the meds, maybe he had a bad reaction and wanted to self medicate.....don't know what the side effects might have been, would be interesting to find out, but than again, this was not something doctors knew much about at all at that time.

Bruce Lee fans will always argue how and why Bruce Lee really died. Here is my 'SUMMARY'of what basically happened during his final months on this planet.

1. He was big time strung out
2. Cortisone
3. He was a very sensitive man
4. He didnt handle the perceived pressures of fame well
5. He may very well have had an eating disorder
6. His weight loss
7. His lack of body fat
8. He drank Saki while living in Hong Kong
9. He got drunk very easily
10. He was trying to live like Mr Hollywood
11. Raymond Chow was stealing from him
12. He had stopped training
13. He did eat Hash Brownies (although this in itself would not kill him)
14. It's fair to say that it wasn't going well between Bruce and Linda Lee
15. No one wanted to be caught with the most famous person in Hong Kong dead in their flat. Hong Kong Chinese are infamous for refusing to have involvement with anything that could cause them to lose face
16. Raymond Chow was helping promote a very unhealthy life for Bruce Lee (Betty Ting Pei). It is that way of living that directly caused Bruce Lee's death  see no. 1. Raymond Chow did not know that this would happen; his role was indirect. The same could be said of many people around Bruce Lee
17. All combined = Multifactorial cause of death

Most of these are from Davis Miller.

My own personal view: Bruce had clear visions of what he was capable of doing but in essence tried to take himself beyond the possibilities of what humans can actually do and that ultimately caused his body and mind to shut down.

Hi Nick,

Hope you are doing fine mate.

You more than anyone on this forum have had access to or from people who have known Bruce Lee better than most. Given the knowledge you have obtained over the years I would love to know what your own thoughts are on how he died. Yes there are many threads and posts where you have raised issues, points, facts, articles etc ...pretty much the lot! lol which we are grateful for but can you honestly tell us what your own thoughts are as to how he died?

Well IMO it's either poisoning or what the doctors think. You can't ignore the big insurance policies that were all in place just before his near death on May 10th - this makes it all look very suspicious. Bruce carrying a gun for protection. I believe they were after him and he wasn't playing game. If he told them he was leaving HK and moving back to the States then it's an important factor. In Linda's book she said by April 73 he had decided to move back so maybe that's why the big insurance policy was in place later that month. There were no signs of him being beat up or anything so I will discount that but i won't discount others being present that day at Betty's. I wish I had access to all the autopsy and inquest files like bleecker has. 40 years later and we still can't look at this stuff. Robert Lee's findings would be interesting to hear about his weight loss etc. Also, how the hell they never called for an ambulance straight away which saved his life on May 10th is unforgivable. It definitely seems like they wanted him dead. I'm still researching and hope to find more answers very soon.

Last edited by pathfinder73 on 24 Jan 2013, 23:49, edited 1 time in total.

Bruce Lee fans will always argue how and why Bruce Lee really died. Here is my 'SUMMARY'of what basically happened during his final months on this planet.

1. He was big time strung out
2. Cortisone
3. He was a very sensitive man
4. He didnt handle the perceived pressures of fame well
5. He may very well have had an eating disorder
6. His weight loss
7. His lack of body fat
8. He drank Saki while living in Hong Kong
9. He got drunk very easily
10. He was trying to live like Mr Hollywood
11. Raymond Chow was stealing from him
12. He had stopped training
13. He did eat Hash Brownies (although this in itself would not kill him)
14. It's fair to say that it wasn't going well between Bruce and Linda Lee
15. No one wanted to be caught with the most famous person in Hong Kong dead in their flat. Hong Kong Chinese are infamous for refusing to have involvement with anything that could cause them to lose face
16. Raymond Chow was helping promote a very unhealthy life for Bruce Lee (Betty Ting Pei). It is that way of living that directly caused Bruce Lee's death  see no. 1. Raymond Chow did not know that this would happen; his role was indirect. The same could be said of many people around Bruce Lee
17. All combined = Multifactorial cause of death

Most of these are from Davis Miller.

My own personal view: Bruce had clear visions of what he was capable of doing but in essence tried to take himself beyond the possibilities of what humans can actually do and that ultimately caused his body and mind to shut down.

that Bruce Lee died because of sudden cerebral edema (from autopsy report). The causes of cerebral edema are many. But for my opinion the most suitable is intoxication (poisoning) or water-electrolit imbalance of his body due to his overtraining.

Well IMO it's either poisoning or what the doctors think. You can't ignore the big insurance policies that were all in place just before his near death on May 10th - this makes it all look very suspicious. Bruce carrying a gun for protection. I believe they were after him and he wasn't playing game. If he told them he was leaving HK and moving back to the States then it's an important factor. In Linda's book she said by April 73 he had decided to move back so maybe that's why the big insurance policy was in place later that month. There were no signs of him being beat up or anything so I will discount that but i won't discount others being present that day at Betty's. I wish I had access to all the autopsy and inquest files like bleecker has. 40 years later and we still can't look at this stuff. Robert Lee's findings would be interesting to hear about his weight loss etc. Also, how the hell they never called for an ambulance straight away which saved his life on May 10th is unforgivable. It definitely seems like they wanted him dead. I'm still researching and hope to find more answers very soon.

There are torture techniques that real MA masters can utilize that wouldn't show physical damage. To even be beaten about the head, causing internal injury is possible. I remember a rumor that someone in The States close to him, was told he was beaten-at gunpoint, over wanting the Triads to release Betty to him, and this is why she's so quiet about it all.

I think it was murder... By whom, and for what, is anybody's guess. The insurance policy effect dates and what happened so soon afterward lean heavily, in my mind, toward this. It was a business situation, one we Western World people will never understand.

that Bruce Lee died because of sudden cerebral edema (from autopsy report). The causes of cerebral edema are many. But for my opinion the most suitable is intoxication (poisoning) or water-electrolit imbalance of his body due to his overtraining.

I met Ed Parker (rip) in 1983, and he told me personally he believed there was 'foul play'
but would not expand. Perhaps he told his son Ed jnr? I don't think we will ever find out.
Perhaps Betty or Chow on their deathbed. I just celebrate Bruce's life